priceisrightfandomcom-20200216-history
Clock Game
Clock Game is where the contestant races against the clock to win two prizes, an additional bonus prize, and a cash bonus. Gameplay The contestant has 30 seconds to deduce the price of two prizes, one at a time. The contestant makes guesses at the price; after each guess, the host will tell the contestant "higher" or "lower," until they guess the correct price, which is displayed onscreen for the audience. Unlike most pricing games, the audience is not allowed to provide contestants with any help during Clock Game. On some occasions, audience members have blurted out answers despite being told not to. If this happens, generally, offending audience members are removed from the studio. If the contestant successfully guesses the price of the first prize within the 30 second time limit, they use whatever time remains to bid on the second prize, as before. Successfully guessing both prices wins the contestant a bonus prize and a $1,000 cash bonus; however, if time expires while bidding on the second item, the contestant still wins the first prize. The contestant is allowed to take shortcuts in pronunciation (eg: "nine seventy-one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine" will test all prices in the $971-$979 range). One commonly used logical strategy for the game is binary search strategy, which makes the game fairly easy to win. History Clock Game premiered on September 11, 1972. Clock Game's clock was very problematic during its first rehearsals back in 1972, to the point where it very nearly never debuted. Two early Clock Game losers were awarded their prizes after their shows were taped because the clock had counted down from 30 to 0 in only 22 seconds. Clock Game was lost on the day it first premiered, but it was won for the very first time 2 days later, on September 13, 1972. The $1,000 cash bonus was added on December 14, 1998, as a way to compensate for the fact that Clock Game never offers prizes worth more than $999. During the primetime specials that aired in 1986, a winning contestant chose a cash bonus from one of four envelopes. The available bonuses were $1000, $2000, $3000, and $5000. In all primetime specials since 2002, a $5,000 bonus has been awarded to winners. It is believed that during the early part of the 1970s syndicated edition, players won a $1,000 bonus for winning both prizes with at least 2 seconds to spare. For a brief period in the early 1980s, Clock Game was played with four-digit prizes, including cars, but the large numbers proved to be too hard for contestants to handle in the fast-paced game. Spotting contestants the thousands digit and not requiring them to say it didn't help matters. For a brief period from 2008-2009 (Season 37), prizes with four-digit prices were offered again, but with the exception of one technical win, the game was never won under this format; so the rules were amended to the player bidding on a small portion of the second prize package and throwing in the larger prize as a bonus prize. As of this season, prizes with four-digit prices were offered as bonus prizes in addition to the $1,000 bonus. On 1994's syndicated The New Price is Right, the game was played using the show's on-set video wall (with a digital clock). The game frequently used prizes with four-digit prices (the contestant was provided with a $1,000 range in which to guess the price), and on some occasions, a third prize was awarded as a bonus for winning. The blue chroma key screen on the Clock Game board was problematic in 2003 after the turntable was redesigned to a pink/purple/blue pattern, as the blue from the turntable was interfering with the chroma key. To combat this, the producers originally placed a large yellow circle behind the game, until finally repainting the board yellow several weeks later with the chroma key changing to green. In 2005, the board was repainted again to feature a blue border and base which is still used today. Foreign versions of Clock Game Clock Game is played on versions of The Price Is Right in numerous countries besides the United States, sometimes with minor alterations; for instance, on the UK's Bruce's Price Is Right, contestants were told that all of the game's prices ended in 5 or 0. The 1980s UK version took a markedly different approach; after using Clock Game in its first series, the game was replaced with an original pricing game called "Time-Play". Time-Play gave a contestant 30 seconds to guess the prices of three prizes, and the clock would not stop after correct guesses. On Mexico's Atínale al Precio, the contestant was given 45 seconds to guess the prices of three products, rather than the usual 30 seconds to guess two. Pictures clock1.jpg|The first look of Clock Game (nameless & bulky). This is from September 15, 1972 and is featured on Disc 2 of the DVD set. Clock Game 1.jpg|The first look of Clock Game (nameless). This is from July 13, 1973 and is featured on Disc 2 of the DVD set. Clock Game 2.jpg|This look lasted until 2003. Yellow Clock Game.PNG|Yellow Circle behind Clock Game. Clock Game 3.jpg|The Yellow One Clock Game 4.jpg|This is the current look of Clock Game. vlcsnap-2013-11-15-15h54m53s144.png|Old School Timer vlcsnap-2013-11-15-16h00m04s198.png|New School Timer Cynthia's Million Dollar Win! On one of Drew Carey's Million Dollar Spectaculars, a lovely young lady by the name of Cynthia won $1,000,000 off that game. That's because it was the "Million Dollar Game" of that evening. To win the million, you must win both prizes in less than 10 seconds (winning both prizes in more than 10 seconds but under 30 won $5,000). Here are the pictures of this exciting moment. Clock Game MDS 1.jpg Clock Game MDS 2.jpg Clock Game MDS 3.jpg Clock Game MDS 4.jpg Clock Game MDS 5.jpg Clock Game MDS 6.jpg Clock Game MDS 7.jpg Clock Game MDS 8.jpg YouTube Videos Close call win from 2001 Another close call win from 2005 Category:Pricing Games Category:Active Games